USC Geodynamics - Thorsten Becker

Thematic maps of the Earth made with iGMT

Using GMT, iGMT, and a range of global geophysical datasets, one can make maps of the Earth that are useful for teaching purposes. (Along the lines of the USGS publication "The Dynamic Earth" and Dave Sandwell's maps.)

For information on how to make such maps and use GMT and iGMT, see my computing and Earth science mapping teaching material and the USC Geodynamics Earth Science Computing Environment (UGESCE).

You can download a few files in gzipped postscript or Acroread PDF format, to be printed as 36" by 72" posters, a legend in the lower right corner of these maps reference the data sources.

Maps

You might also want to check out a comparison of all the colormaps that come with GMT, as PDF files in their in their original spacing, or normalized to 0...1.

Data

The iGMT produced script used to make these maps, world_poster.gmt, can be found in this list of files. Make sure to reference the original authors of these datasets if you decide to use them, all are listed in "references.0.txt" . Some of the datafiles listed below have been stripped of comments or otherwise processed for data processing purposes.

GMT Script to make map

Here's the GMT script, based on iGMT output, that can be used to make the world maps. You'll need to modify paths and such before running.

Back to data page